Jos — President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has said the Federal Government had put policies in place to reform the mineral sector and make Nigeria the preferred destination for global mining investment capital.

Yar'Adua said this while declaring open the 2008 Nigeria Solid Minerals Summit, in Jos.

Represented by Minister of State for Agriculture and Water Resources, who also supervises Ministry of Mining and Steel Development, Chief Ademola Seriki, Yar'Adua said the country has effected the requisite legal and regulatory frameworks and key sector reforms.

According to Yar'Adua, the key sector reforms include development of a national minerals metals policy and enactment of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007, with guaranteed security of tenure and attractive fiscal incentives such as tax holidays and import duty waivers.

He said, "in order to achieve our vision 20-2020 and develop a modern and diversified economy, the Federal Government is focused on all the key sectors of the economy and is expected that this will impact positively on the mining sub-sector."

He said in the past, solid minerals contributed significantly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), pointing out that since the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity, the Nigerian economy has become dominated by activities in the petroleum sub-sector.